I have had a few friends contact me and they are not feeling relaxed or prepared for Advent. Specifically, having the books ready and wrapped. This is NOT meant to be stressful, but as with anything new it can take some adjusting. My first year doing Advent it felt a little bit overwhelming. It gets easier!
MY BOOKS AREN'T WRAPPED/I DON'T HAVE TIME!
The first year I wrapped daily advent books they were from the library! Not only did we not have the funds to place a bulk order of books (this is before I knew about thriftbooks), my mom helped me wrap the books. AND I WAITED UNTIL THE DAY BEFORE ADVENT! <- That was the first mistake. BUT DON'T FEAR... if you have books that aren't wrapped there is an easy solution:
CHRISTMAS BAGS! Thank you Jesus for bags! Throw a book in there with some tissue paper and ta-da!
THE KIDS WON'T STAY STILL FOR ADVENT READING!
There were nights where all we did was the Lord's Prayer after lighting the candles. There were also nights we completely forgot in the beginning! You do what you can do. Now the boys understand there is a devotional plus prayer. The littlest (3 years old) follows his big brothers. It does get easier friends.
WHAT BOOKS DO I BUY?!
This is something specific to what you and your family enjoy. I have included the first order I placed in 2016 (below). I will tell you -> these have all been winners BUT if you haven't yet purchased books, these are our favorites and a fun start to the stash:
- Merry Christmas Strega Nona - liturgical + Italian = winning
- The Crippled Lamb - It's long, but is wonderful in showing Jesus was sent for ALL!
- A Pirates Night Before Christmas - You read with the accent and all. The boys love it.
- Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree - is a one man's trash is another man's treasure type of story.
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Polar Express - Classics!
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